MIT Researchers Build Robots To Serve Beer

The Terminator world has dominated the general public’s thinking on humanity’s robotic future. MIT researchers, in the meantime, have solved a more important problem: how to get robots to serve beer.

MIT engineers designed and programmed a team of robots to pour and deliver beers. The mechanized bartenders were developed by researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). (There’s no word if there will be personal robots for home-use when the refrigerator is just a bit too far away.)

The MIT researchers took a factory line approach as one robot opens the beer, with two others taking orders from clientele and delivering the drinks. The bartending robot, a PR2, was helped by two four-wheeled Turtlebot robots, who worked as the wait staff.

The teamwork achieved by the robots sets this experiment apart from others. Robotic communication is very important to such an arrangement but somewhat of a mystery to researchers. Algorithms drive the robots, allowing the team to operate on a general level. Programmed responses inform the robot how best to solve a problem.

The researcher’s ultimate goal is to create robots who can assist in hospital and search-and-rescue scenarios. Researchers programmed the robots in such a way that they would not have all of the information needed to solve a problem so as to re-create the chaotic nature of the human world.

The robotics communication system, along with a laissez faire programmatic approach, strives to enable the robots to operate amid uncertainty. By working together with state-of-the-art communications systems and a more hands-off programmatic approach, the robots are better able manage chaotic situations.

“Each robot’s sensors get less-than-perfect information about the location and status of both themselves and the things around them,” MIT graduate student Ariel Anders wrote in thepress release.

As for outcomes, a robot may drop items when trying to pick them up or take longer than expected to navigate. And, on top of that, robots often are not able to communicate with one another, either because of communication noise or because they are out of range.

“These limitations mean that the robots don’t know what the other robots are doing or what the other orders are,” Anders stated. “It forced us to work on more complex planning algorithms that allow the robots to engage in higher-level reasoning about their location, status, and behavior.” The beer serving robots represent an attempt to simplify robotics code.

“Almost all real-world problems have some form of uncertainty baked into them,” said Chris Amato, a former CSAIL postdoc researcher, now a professor at the University of New Hampshire. “As a result, there is a huge range of areas where these planning approaches could be of help.” Amato’s paper can be seen in the journal Robotics Proceedings.

Important: Never invest (trade with) money you can't afford to comfortably lose. Always do your own research and due diligence before placing a trade. Read our Terms & Conditions here. Trade recommendations and analysis are written by our analysts which might have different opinions. Read my 6 Golden Steps to Financial Freedom here. Best regards, Jonas Borchgrevink.

Rate this post:

Important for improving the service. Please add a comment in the comment field below explaining what you rated and why you gave it that rate. Failed Trade Recommendations should not be rated as that is considered a failure either way. (0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5)You need to be a registered member to rate this.Loading...

5 stars on average, based on 1 rated postsJustin O'Connell is the founder of financial technology focused CryptographicAsset.com.
Justin organized the launch of the largest Bitcoin ATM hardware and software provider in the world at the historical Hotel del Coronado in southern California.
His works appear in the U.S.'s third largest weekly, the San Diego Reader, VICE and elsewhere.

Important: Never invest (trade with) money you can't afford to comfortably lose. Always do your own research and due diligence before placing a trade. Read our Terms & Conditions here. Trade recommendations and analysis are written by our analysts which might have different opinions. Read my 6 Golden Steps to Financial Freedom here. Best regards, Jonas Borchgrevink.

Rate this post:

Important for improving the service. Please add a comment in the comment field below explaining what you rated and why you gave it that rate. Failed Trade Recommendations should not be rated as that is considered a failure either way. (0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5)You need to be a registered member to rate this.Loading...

5 stars on average, based on 2 rated postsP. H. Madore has covered the cryptocurrency beat over the course of hundreds of articles for Hacked's sister site, CryptoCoinsNews, as well as some of her competitors. He is a major contributing developer to the Woodcoin project, and has made technical contributions on a number of other cryptocurrency projects. In spare time, he recently began a more personalized, weekly newsletter at http://ico.phm.link

Toward Unbreakable Quantum Encryption for Everyone

Hacked recently covered the efforts of the Chinese government to build unbreakable quantum communication networks. According to analysts, quantum communications networks are so expensive that they could have a “recentralizing effect,” enabling states to recover the ground that they have lost to decentralizing digital technologies. But what if ultra-secure quantum cryptography could be made available to everyone at low cost?

Important: Never invest (trade with) money you can't afford to comfortably lose. Always do your own research and due diligence before placing a trade. Read our Terms & Conditions here. Trade recommendations and analysis are written by our analysts which might have different opinions. Read my 6 Golden Steps to Financial Freedom here. Best regards, Jonas Borchgrevink.

Rate this post:

Important for improving the service. Please add a comment in the comment field below explaining what you rated and why you gave it that rate. Failed Trade Recommendations should not be rated as that is considered a failure either way. (0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5)You need to be a registered member to rate this.Loading...

One year ago Hackedcovered the race between the US and China to develop “military super-powers” by harnessing quantum science, and noted that Chinese scientists were developing quantum communication satellites that support unbreakable encryption. A few weeks ago, China launched its first quantum satellite.

Important: Never invest (trade with) money you can't afford to comfortably lose. Always do your own research and due diligence before placing a trade. Read our Terms & Conditions here. Trade recommendations and analysis are written by our analysts which might have different opinions. Read my 6 Golden Steps to Financial Freedom here. Best regards, Jonas Borchgrevink.

Rate this post:

Important for improving the service. Please add a comment in the comment field below explaining what you rated and why you gave it that rate. Failed Trade Recommendations should not be rated as that is considered a failure either way. (0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5)You need to be a registered member to rate this.Loading...

A part of CCN

Hacked.com is Neutral and Unbiased

Hacked.com and its team members have pledged to reject any form of advertisement or sponsorships from 3rd parties. We will always be neutral and we strive towards a fully unbiased view on all topics. Whenever an author has a conflicting interest, that should be clearly stated in the post itself with a disclaimer. If you suspect that one of our team members are biased, please notify me immediately at jonas.borchgrevink(at)hacked.com.